Saturday, May 10, 2008

If the Westerners feared to intervene during the last year's mass protests due potential civil war and humanitarian catastrophe, this should not be the case this time. You can't possibly ruin the country much more, because it is already ruined. In this case you will cause less human suffering by intervening than by not doing so.

It was already mentioned that the regimes headquarters are conveniently isolated from the rest of country. Great, strike there first, with whatever you have – there's no country on earth to give the generals an asylum anyway. Send troops to all the major locations to prevent looting and riots. Let the aid agencies do their job. Send whoever is around to overwhelm the country.

This is the case when you don't expect resistance the Iraq style. I suspect these days army and police servicemen are either wondering about their own survival or are grieving for their friends and relatives. Who will fight and die for the generals?

Beijing is likely to be infuriated by direct military intervention, but what can it possibly do with the Olympics coming in August? Cancel the Games and declare the World War III? Regime's other friends seem to be irritated by its failures and have for a moment distanced themselves – this is the best time to act.

This is a rare case when you don't have to worry about the conflict between morally justified, politically acceptable and technically possible.